Digital Innovation at London Collections: Men AW13

London Collections: Men (LC:M), kick-starting the international menswear calendar from Monday 7th January 2013, provides a new opportunity for the British Fashion Council (BFC) to unite fashion and digital innovation, encouraging engagement with the menswear showcase through social media, live streaming and digital presentations.

The London Collections: Men dedicated website, www.londoncollections.co.uk/men, will be home to all digital content over the three days, including the schedule, show footage, daily highlights and catwalk collection galleries. The site also features maps of the menswear show, event and showroom locations, as well as hotels, bars and restaurants. Users can create their own online personal calendar for the event, and use the website for directions between the shows; all features of the site that aim to use digital to simplify and maximise the visits of press and buyers to London Collections: Men.

All of the shows at The Hospital Club: Show Space will be live streamed. Anyone can watch these shows at home or on the move, whether on their home computer, portable device or smart phone: www.londoncollections.co.uk/live. The live steam will also be available in the LC:M Cinema and BFC Press Lounge at the Hospital Club, ensuring the audience don’t miss a moment. The TOPMAN Design show will be live streamed from their dedicated show space at the Old Sorting Office and Hackett will live stream their catwalk show for the first time from the Royal Opera House.

The LC:M Cinema will also be screening digital presentations for AW13. ‘TEST Presents: A Screening of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’, chosen by menswear designer SIBLING, will be shown on Monday 7th January. A show reel of fashion films will be screened between the live streams on Wednesday 9th January, curated by designers exhibiting in the Designer Galleries and NEWGEN MEN, sponsored by TOPMAN, talents.

The public can also get involved through the BFC’s social media platforms. #ManAboutTown allows Twitter and Pinterest users to contribute to an online style archive of outfits and menswear street style photos simply by including the hashtag in their posts. Tweets and pins are all collated into a dedicated pinboard and Facebook album, aiming to provide a crowd-sourced visual collection of the best of British men’s style.

Fashion Forward winner Lou Dalton and menswear journalist Charlie Porter will be sharing their London Collections: Men experiences on Pinterest. Followers will be able to see Lou Dalton’s journey to menswear through a Pinboard curated by Lou herself, documenting her inspirations and preparations ahead of the show, through to backstage shots and catwalk looks as hit the runway at the Hospital Club: Show Space they Monday 7th January. Charlie Porter will create an online moodboard of his favourite catwalk looks, street style and inspiring moments from the event offering an exclusive insight into his London Collections: Men experience.

The BFC continue to work closely with Twitter to promote conversation around London Collections: Men using the hashtag #londonCollections. Q&A sessions will be held over the 3 days from the official @BFC account where Tweeters can pose questions in real-time to members of the Menswear Committee using the hashtag #AskLCM. Taking over Twitter this January are Tinie Tempah; Toby Wiseman, editor of Men’s Health; and model Oliver Cheshire. The London Collections: Men Timeline will take to Twitter, keeping track of the shows throughout the week with live updates of start times (#LCMtimeline).

The BFC will be offering a behind the scenes take on the showcase through the official Instagram account. The team of ‘Instagram Insiders’ will be uploading backstage shots, exclusives from the events and insights of their experiences throughout the three days.

Augmented reality app Aurasma will bring London Collections: Men to digital life. The windows of the Hospital Club will feature a life-sized catwalk installation: using their mobile device, passers by simply need to download the Aurasma app and hold it over the installation, at which point it will spring to life with the daily catwalk highlights from London Collections: Men. Aurasma is a new technology that is capable of recognising images and objects in the real world and seamlessly integrating them with rich video content and audio.

TOPMAN will take their digital streaming to the next level by introducing #TOPMAN360, a new live streaming experience which allows fans to not only watch the show in 360 degrees but interact with VIPs on the front row who will be live tweeting. The live stream will be available at 12pm, Monday 7th January on TOPMAN.COM and also through their official Facebook app, www.facebook.com/topman

The BFC’s digital innovation strategy aims to harness technology and creativity to promote British designers to global audiences.